With 3DMark05, Futuremark continues the tradition in its benchmarking software by providing a state-of-the-art Microsoft ® DirectX ® 9 3D performance benchmark.
3DMark05 is an all new 3DMark version, making the most out of Microsoft's DirectX
9. The previous version, 3DMark03, provided a nice testbench for this
technology. However, 3DMark03 used DirectX 9 specific features in
a limited
manner, because fully supporting hardware
was rare at the time of its launch. In contrast, 3DMark05 requires DirectX
9 hardware with full support for at least Shader Model 2, and takes shader
usage to never before seen levels.
Just like its predecessors, 3DMark05's point system is set so that at the moment
of release, the high-end VGA cards available on the market can only score around
5000 3DMarks, whereas the worst card that meets the program's requirements,
yields a score of 1000.

Game Test 1 - Return to Proxycon

Being the sequel to the "Battle of Proxycon" from
3DMark03, in "Return to Proxycon" we're
once again set in space and the battle continues as space pirates invade
a cargo ship in order to take control of its valuable cargo.

This test, tries to simulate a futuristic first-person shooter
game with all the high details that such a game entails. The dynamic shadows,
highly detailed environment and advanced lighting techniques, ensure that
under normal circumstances,
no recent card can run it with decent frame rates.

Disappointingly, with the first game test, the NX6600GT is
outperformed by both the X700 pro and Asus 6600GT .

Game Test 2 - Firefly Forest

A forest is filled with magic fireflies at night. The moon is nearly full, illuminating the forest with a bluish faint light. The magic fireflies have flickering, bright green lights that playfully move around the forest.

This scene is a nice example of a smaller scale outdoor scene with rich vegetation. Immediate visibility is only short range, and there is a skybox surrounding the whole scene.

A large number of trees with their branches swinging separately, and dense vegetation being dynamically distributed according to the camera movements, make this test the most demanding of the three.

The intense lighting effects of GT2 seem to take their toll
on the HIS X700, more so than with the other cards and so the NX6600GT
climbed up to
second
position.

Game Test 3 - Canyon Flight

A Jules Verne type airship flies through a canyon guarded
by a dangerous sea monster. The airmen defend their ship using heavy cannons,
but these seem to have no effect on the huge sea monster.
Finally, the crew manages a narrow escape using the airship's "last resort"
afterburners.

This scene is fairly complex with large areas of
water reflecting the high canyon walls. The water is actually one of the
key points of interest in this scene. The water not only does realistic
looking reflections and refractions, it has a depth fog, making the sea
monster swimming under the airship appear deep down in the water.
The air in this scene also uses
a volumetric fog, making distant cliffs in the canyon appear far away.

For yet another time in the third and final test of 3dmark05,
the MSI card performed better than the X700 Pro but the difference between
it and the Asus 6600GT is still noticeable.

Final Score

3DMarks on 3DMark05 are now calculated with the following formula:

(Game Test 1 * Game Test 2 * Game Test 3)^0.33 * 250

This is basically the geometric mean of the total frames in each game multiplied by 250, which means that all game tests are on an equal par.

The 3DMarks points for the PCI-E version of the 6600GT make
it a clear winner and unfortunately, the 400 3dmarks points between it and
the NX6600GT AGP
are more than we can ignore.